Karachi sessions court to hear anchor Iqrarul Hassan's plea against NCCIA custody tomorrow
KARACHI: A judicial magistrate’s order to hand over anchorperson Iqrarul Hassan to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) was challenged on Wednesday. On Tuesday, a judicial magistrate (East) granted the NCCIA the TV anchor’s custody for four days in a case of allegedly disseminating anti-state content. While Hassan’s family had claimed he was picked up by men mostly in…
Karachi's district and sessions court is set to hear anchorperson Iqrarul Hassan's petition against the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on Thursday. The judicial magistrate (East) had granted the NCCIA custody of the TV anchor for four days the previous day, citing allegations of disseminating anti-state content on his social media.
Hassan's family claims he was taken by plainclothes men from their Lahore residence on Monday, while the Punjab government stated that the police had not arrested him. Hassan's defense lawyer, Barrister Mian Ali Ashfaq, filed the petition with the court on Wednesday. The NCCIA states that Hassan was arrested for allegedly distributing anti-state, false, and defamatory content, and was charged under sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).
His family alleges that he was taken in the early hours of Monday by plainclothes men, one of whom was wearing an NCCIA identification tag. His wife, Farah Iqrar, recounted the incident, saying that men in plainclothes broke into their home in Lahore's DHA at around 3am and removed her husband, confiscating his mobile phones, a laptop, and her own mobile phone.
Written by urgent.news from Dawn - Pakistan's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
